Social Studies Education - Master of Education (MEd)

Online Master of Education (MEd) with a Concentration in Secondary Social Studies Education

Social Studies Education students performing a historiographical analysis of the Cecil Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town, South Africa.

Hello and welcome to the webpage for the University of Pittsburgh Master of Education in Social Studies Program!

My name is Michael Lovorn and I am the coordinator of this program, and I serve as instructor of several courses. A bit about me: I have 13 years of experience teaching public school secondary (grades 7-12) social studies courses, and an additional 13 years of experience as a university professor. I have conducted research in schools and taught graduate-level social studies research and methods coursework for most of that time.

Here at Pitt, we are proud of our unconventional, hands-on online master’s degree. Our online program is designed to engage you in dynamic discourse, advanced teaching methods, local and regional research, and to contextualize all you learn with your teaching and scholarly experiences in the field of secondary social studies education. Unlike many other online programs, the University of Pittsburgh Master of Education utilizes the latest technology, communication, and media innovations in all coursework, facilitating optimal engagement with instructors and course materials. In short, our course schedule accommodates full-time employed educators, and we work to ensure that coursework is relevant to your day-to-day teaching activities.

Mirroring the traditional face-to-face course format, the structure for the online social studies M.Ed. is divided into six distinct academic areas: 1. Social Studies-specific Pedagogy; 2. Psychological Perspectives on Education; 3. Social and Cultural Perspectives on Education; 4. Research Seminar; 5. Research Methods; and 6. Electives.

Each area is made up of content, knowledge, and skills critical to the development of graduate-level practitioners and scholars, 100% of which is delivered in an online format. The program requires a minimum of 36 credits for completion. Degree requirements include:

3 online credits (1 course) in Social and Cultural Perspectives on Education

3 online credits (1 course) in M.Ed. Research Seminar;

3 online credits (1 course) in M.Ed. Research Methods;

9 online credits (3 courses) in approved electives; and

a written comprehensive exam.

On behalf of everyone in the Social Studies M.Ed. Program, we thank you for visiting our page, and invite you to call or e-mail if you have questions about anything. I thoroughly enjoy teaching courses such as this, meeting talented teachers like you, and helping you achieve your scholarly goals. This research course is a bit different from the previous ones you’ve taken. My goal is to make course content relevant to each of you, and I will seek to do so by working with each of you almost as though you are enrolled in an independent study.